| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 112.1

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 112.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Asia

Andrew Bernstein. Modern Passings: Death Rites, Politics, and Social Change in Imperial Japan. (Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute.) Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. 2006. Pp. xi, 242. $39.00.

Disposing of the dead is an uncomfortable subject. It causes unease of various kinds in various circumstances: grief, of course, but beyond that it can still prompt fears in different regions of the world. Are the dead really dead, or simply moving to another world, better or worse, and if so, what should mourners do to obtain the best possible outcome for those they have lost? Even if corpses are removed from sight, are the dead still around in some inchoate form, dispensing rewards and punishments to their descendants, friends, and enemies at will? Should the body be buried immediately to spare the sight of corruption? Should it be promptly embalmed to look its best when summoned by the last trump? Should it be consigned to the flames? In earlier societies, too, should it have been provided with food, money, and, at least for the elite, attendants to accompany it to a new life?

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